


(it's all in your hands)

by mysilenceknot



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Difficult Decisions, Gen, Identity Swap, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-06 10:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysilenceknot/pseuds/mysilenceknot
Summary: “They’re extinct,” J’onn said sharply. “In this universe, at least.” He turned and walked to a large window in front of one of the control sections. Kendra and Iris followed. If Taxxons didn’t exist, then… “I think you’re dreaming of a parallel dimension. Or a parallel Earth. It’s unclear which one yet.”This story takes place between The Return (#48) and The Diversion (#49).





	1. Iris

**Author's Note:**

> The DCTV/Animorphs au that no one asked for. Fun fact this is the first actual crossover fic I've ever written. Anyways, if you're part of this niche congratulations.  
> Title comes from the theme song of the [Animorphs tv series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-2vEFWFlgE).

For the last few months Iris had been having a reoccurring nightmare pop up now and then. A battle field, almost. A giant alien creature with tentacles that shot poison. A bird falling.

She’d wake up in a panic every single time.

For the last week, however, the dreams had become even more vivid. She could now see a tiger getting shot, she could feel a pang of pain in her ankle, she could see a tall, beautiful woman holding a glowing red orb as wind pushed around her. And there were names she heard, unusual words, so many more odd-looking creatures around the battle field.

Tonight she woke up with a scream.

“Hey, hey,” a voice said next to her. The blankets shifted and the next thing she knew is she was being held tightly in a hug. Her body was shaking. She had started crying at some point. “Iris,” the voice said, but as she became more awake she realized she was in bed with her fiancé. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Iris said. She began to cry again. “The dreams are getting worse.”

Barry continued slowly rubbing her back as she tried to breathe deeply. “I really think you should talk to someone about it.”

“No, it’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Iris. You screamed a name this time.”

Iris pulled away from the hug, aware of the fact that she was still shivering. “Did I say anything else?” Barry shook his head. “But I said a name? I can’t remember any names.”

“I woke up when you started turning, but you screamed ‘Jake’ before finally waking up.” He frowned a bit. “I don’t know who that is or what that means but the last couple nights have been scary. We’re engaged, Iris, can’t you open up to me instead of vice versa?”

She took a deep breath. There was just… something about the entire situation. Despite knowing that a huge part of being in a relationship is being open when one party had a problem, she really didn’t want to tell Barry. The dreams were stressful and nonsensical. There were voices in her head when the dreams progressed mixed with the voices and yells she could hear around her. What would Barry even think? Was it the stress of the wedding? Was she finally losing her mind after all these years in a superhero team?

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll talk to someone. I just. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but I can’t tell you yet.”

Barry sighed, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “I’m here when you’re ready.” Iris nodded her head before leaning back onto his body.

 

* * *

 

Normally her go to people included her brother, Laurel, Sara, Barry, and Cisco. There was some uncomfortable feeling that arose whenever she thought of each of them in connection to her dream. Instead Iris scheduled a coffee date with Kendra, a person who was in her life quite often but who she wasn’t that close to. They were friends and Iris trusted her, but specifically Kendra’s past and the dreams she’d had of Chay-ara made Iris feel like maybe Kendra would understand and be able to give her guidance.

“Hey,” she called out when she walked into Jitters. Kendra was already sitting at a booth in a corner with her beverage and waved. Iris ordered her usual coffee, bought a biscotti, and made her way to the table. “How are you?”

“Same old, same old. Just got back from a mission with Carter. I’m enjoying myself here as long as possible, but he just left for Coast City. How are you?”

Iris’s face scrunched up. The entire point of going out with coffee was to tell Kendra what was happening, but she really didn’t want to talk about it. She spent a few seconds looking down at the table with an internal debate, eventually taking a deep breath and looking at Kendra’s neutral face. “Okay, for the record none of this makes sense or is believable. But I’ve been having nightmares.” Iris went into the full explanation of the last few weeks. From the cannibalistic aliens that were cleaning up the fight around them, to the animals, to the glowing orb and the woman surrounded with wind and light.

“So,” Iris tried to say with a laugh, “it’s been really confusing but Barry told me to talk to someone. And I figured since you’re a reincarnated goddess you’d have some suggestions.” Kendra was silent. She stared at Iris with a face that had morphed from disbelief to blankness. The longer Kendra stared, the more anxious Iris became. “Kendra?”

“What name did you scream last night?”

“I’m sorry?”

“This is really important.” Kendra reached out to put one hand over Iris’s hand on the table. “What name did you scream last night?”

“Jake. But I don’t think I’ve known a Jake since elementary school,” Iris responded with a frown.

Kendra’s eyes closed for a few more seconds. When her eyes opened, they were glowing; Iris had never seen her like this. “I’m having the same dream, Iris.”

Iris’s heart dropped into her stomach. This is not what she expected. Kendra continued. “They started around the same time, but the perspective was different. I wasn’t… human in my dreams.”

“What does that mean? Were you one of those fighting animals?”

“No, I think I was one of the aliens.” Now it was Iris’s turn to be silent. None of this made any sense. Chay-ara was not actually an alien, because if she was the team would have figured it out by now. Why would Kendra dream she was an alien? “Look, we’ve got to leave at once.”

“What?”

Kendra abruptly stood up. “We need help, there are people in the Watchtower who can help figure this out.”

Iris nodded her head. “Okay.”


	2. Kendra

The fact that she was having matching dreams with Iris slightly scared Kendra. It wasn’t just the fact it was Iris, though that did stress Kendra out. Iris wasn’t a meta. There was nothing that indicated she was a supernatural being in any way shape or form. Because of that, having matching dreams was a little more than unusual.

In reality, the biggest thing that scared Kendra about these dreams was that every single time it ended there was a voice of an apology ringing in her head.

“Guys, I’m really sorry.”

In front of her when that happened, she saw a tiger fly through the sky. A wounded Black girl standing holding onto a tree screamed. Apparently, that was Iris. A teenage Iris that didn’t look like any pictures of Iris she’d seen. Her hair was short, she was in tattered clothes, and she was crying in pain and horror.

It really didn’t make any sense at all. Hopefully J’onn or Clark would have an answer.

 

* * *

 

The answer she got was not good.

Cisco’s presence when her and Iris’s minds were linked made her a little less worried, but the moment he turned the system on, she felt her eyes fly open. Kendra could see it all. The battle field, some Hork-Bijur fighting other Hork-Bijur, a Taxxon scooping up a screaming body. The animals – Animorphs? – were very clearly losing. And then – Rachel, Rachel in all her glory lifted the glowing red sphere. The sphere Vissor 1 clearly wanted. Jake said goodbye, Cassie screamed, and the whole world went black.

Kendra sat up with a gasp, holding onto one of the arms of the chair and looking around the room. Iris had awoken sooner, it seemed, and was leaning on Cisco while clearly trying not to hyperventilate.

“Kendra.” She turned to look at Clark who was staring at her seriously. “What did you see?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.” Kendra put her hands on her face, reeling from the scene that made absolutely no sense. So many words, so many unusual creatures. She was definitely an alien in her dream and she’d killed one of the oozing creatures with a swing of her tail. Taking deep breaths, she turned to stare at a shaky Iris who was also breathing heavily.

After a minute or two, Iris spoke. “Have you ever heard of Taxxons?” She stood fully upright now and walked to Clark and J’onn. “There were these big gigantic insects that were eating everything else on the battle field. They were called Taxxons.”

Clark shook his head. J’onn, on the other hand, took a step back. “Taxxons,” he said. “That isn’t possible.”

Kendra stood up as well. “Nothing in that dream made sense, so why are Taxxons impossible?”

“They’re extinct,” J’onn said sharply. “In this universe, at least.” He turned and walked to a large window in front of one of the control sections. Kendra and Iris followed. If Taxxons didn’t exist, then… “I think you’re dreaming of a parallel dimension. Or a parallel Earth. It’s unclear which one yet.”

“Do we know of anyone who has the power to tamper with our dreams from a different space from the void?” Kendra looked at Iris, who was standing in a defensive pose, a pose that meant she was ready for a fight.

“Not at all,” Clark said. He’d been watching the scene carefully but quietly. Cisco stood next to him speechless. Kendra and Cisco made eye contact with each other; he squirmed under her gaze. Unusual. “It looks like there are at least two other players. The glowing girl and the tiger Jake. Maybe someone else has gotten these dreams?”

Iris shrugged. “We only found out that we were sharing dreams within the last…” Her voice trailed off. She closed her eyes tightly and Kendra made her way to Cisco, who couldn’t quite control his flinch when Kendra touched his arm. Cisco looked away. Kendra stepped back away from him.

“We need to talk to Sara,” Iris said. Her eyes were wide as she looked at each person in the room in term. “I have to talk to Sara.”

“Why Sara?” Clark asked.

“Because I think she’s the glowing girl.”


	3. Sara

It was nice to sit on the Waverider with Rip. No missions to complete, no world to save. No interpersonal team drama. Just the two of them, spending cherished time together. It was nice to be able to act like they were a normal couple taking a break from work to be together. Even though part of Sara would always be hypervigilant and know that this was slightly an illusion – they could never be a normal couple – at least she could enjoy it while it lasted. Halfway through a movie she’d begun falling asleep. Rip had chosen some She’d begun falling a sleep halfway through the drama they’d been watching and awoke with her shoulder being shaken.

“Sara,” Rip said. “Sara, you need to wake up.” She woke up with a start, ready to fight, but relaxed when she saw Kendra and Iris in front of her. Sara sighed and leaned back into the couch, wishing Rip would sit back and cuddle again.

“Nice to see you guys. What’s so urgent today?”

Iris and Kendra looked at each other before Kendra spoke. “Have you been having unusual dreams lately?”

“Other than what, dreams about getting murdered, dreams about watching all of you get murdered, dreams about space and time and –” she had to cut herself off when she saw Kendra rolling her eyes but Iris looking at her in concern. Sure, she mostly had nightmares, but sometimes the dreams were good.

“Have you specifically having a dream that contained a fight scene with aliens?”

Sara paused. “Elaborate.”

“There’s a gorilla and a giant tentacled monster and a tiger flying through the air.”

Her heart sank with Kendra’s words. Those dreams had been popping up but they weren’t quite clear. They weren’t reasonable like the normal nightmares that plagued Sara. They didn’t seem to be plugged into reality one bit, not even when she considered how odd her reality was. “Yes, I’ve had those dreams. Wait,” she said, fully awake now, “have you had those dreams?”

Iris nodded her head. “There’s something going on here. We just don’t know what’s happening yet.”

Sara turned to Rip, who was staring at all of them with a slight look of horror. “Rip?” she asked cautiously?

“I’m having them too,” he exhaled. “I’m in the sky, I’m watching this all happen. And Jake…” Rip shuddered. “I’m pretty sure he was about to die.”

The four of them sat quietly on their chairs. How could all four of them have matching dreams? They were all friends, sure, but they had varying levels of closeness. Why them?

“J’onn says we might be dreaming of another dimension. Or Earth,” Iris said with a sigh. “There’s got to be someone else in our lives who’s been having the same dream. We still don’t know who Jake is.” Jake… that name. It felt like she had heard it at some point in one of her lives, but it was trapped back behind everything.

Sara stood up. “Well. We’re not going to figure this out standing here. We’ve got to think – hold on,” she interrupted herself, “how did you figure me out?”

“There’s a glowing girl in the dream. I think it’s you.”

A glowing girl? Is that why she saw all the dreams through a red blur? Is that why she felt so panicked in the dream? Afraid of whatever she was holding?

Rip spoke up. “It has to be Cisco and Barry.” All three women turned to look at him. “It has to be them. I can feel it.” There was a pause between his words and when anyone spoke up again.

“It’s worth a shot, at least,” Kendra said. Rip looked frustrated now, standing up from the couch.

“This isn’t just a shot,” he insisted. “We need to get them right at once.”

They all looked at him again; Iris and Kendra stood up with a sigh. Sara reached out to grab his hand. “Okay. Let’s go.”


	4. Rip

He wasn’t quite sure how he knew it was Barry and Cisco. But he was certain, he had no doubt in his mind that Jake and the other voice in his head, that if they didn’t figure out something soon there would be hell to pay.

The conversation with Barry and Cisco went about as well as he expected. Initial confusion followed by a mixture of panic and fear. Barry had a lot to say about his dreams and his fears but Cisco was unusually quiet. Everyone else noticed.

“Cisco,” Kendra said, “please say something.” It was almost a plead after they’d all turned to him and he’d stood looking conflicted.

Cisco exhaled deeply before saying “I knew exactly what you were talking about in the Watchtower and it scared the shit out of me so I’d been hoping that we could forget that any of it happened.”

“How are we supposed to forget this?” Sara countered. “There’s no way in hell that I can believe that this wouldn’t have eaten you up inside.”

“It’s better that than knowing that Barry was about to die,” he spat.

There was a gasp through the room in the Waverider they were sitting in. “What?” Rip asked.

With a shaky voice, Cisco added to the information they all shared. “He sent me a private message that said I was his best friend and that I should look after Cassie –” and at this he turned to look at Iris – “I think that’s you. And then he apologized and was sliced with those lasers.” Cisco’s eyes were welling up. So were Barry’s. “I’d rather keep a secret my whole life than to find out why you were going to die.”

[It’s a bit late for that.]

All six of them swirled around, looking for the source of the sound.

“Gideon,” Rip yelled, “put the ship in emergency lock down, we have an intruder.”

“There’s no one here,” Gideon responded. “Emergency lock down commencing.”

Rip looked around the room. In seconds he reached forward and grabbed the door shut. “Did any of you hear that?” They all nodded but before any of them could speak the voice echoed again.

[Congratulations, you’ve figured it out. I’d applaud, but no hands.]

“Who are you?” Rip demanded. “Where are you?”

[Oh, haven’t you realized? I’m outside of your universe and concepts of time and existence. But the shorter answer is: I’m in your heads.]

Barry closed his eyes, his face pinched with frustrated yet deep thinking. Everyone else in the room turned to look at him – was Jake the leader? Is that why they were all looking to him for advice even though they all were team leaders in their own ways? Rip watched him with bated breath before his eyes flew open, the speed force running through them.

“Crayak.”

Laughter. [Not quite.]

“I know you’re not the Ellimist, because as fucked up as he is he wouldn’t put us here with a time constraint.]

[Clever boy, Jake.]

Everyone seemed slightly taken aback by the name being used on Barry. He was Jake. Barry flinched. “If you’re not either of them, who are you?”

[I’m Zirfadra, and you woke me when Rachel held the sphere.] The voice almost sounded as if it was full of pride at what Rachel had done. Sara? [I saw that you all were on the verge of death, so I decided to have some fun.]

“I thought you were a myth,” Kendra said angrily.

[You Andalites and your myths. Too self-important to consider how much of the rest of the universe existed in its own reality.] Kendra bristled at this, body tensing into a fight pose. She relaxed at Cisco’s touch but Rip knew that she wanted to let Chay-ara out and fight this unfightable being.

“So, what is this?” Iris asked. “Who are we? Where are we?”

[In a pocket hidden in your own Earth. Let’s say… it’s a conjoined dimension. You took over the bodies who lived here and their souls are floating in Z-Space. Eventually they will be trapped there, you will be trapped here, and your world will fall.]

Rip closed his eyes. If he wasn’t really Rip, if Rip was someone else entirely whose life he had stepped into, who the fuck was he?

“What are our options, Zirfadra?” Kendra hissed. “I figure there’s a reason you’ve appeared suddenly to tell us what our circumstances were.”

[Of course there is. I want “your prince” to listen carefully.] They all looked at each other in confusion. Who’s a prince? Who the hell would be _Kendra’s_ prince? [You will remember it soon enough. Now that you have figured out what you all are stuck in, I am giving you six hours to decide what to do. Stay here and be safe, leaving the war behind you for forever, while also condemning six souls into a frozen eternity in Z-space and leaving the ones you love to die like the rest of the humans. Or. I release you and you go back to the battle.]

Sara spoke up. “If we return, could you promise our safety?”

The voice laughed, a much crueler laugh than the one before. [Why would I promise you anything like that? Six hours. You must all agree on what to do.]

Then the voice was no more.


	5. Cisco

This was a living nightmare. He couldn’t even focus on the heated conversation that was happening in front of him. All he could hear was Jake’s apology. Over and over again, as if he was stuck in a time loop. Cisco had really hoped that he could forget about it, that the voice would go away and he could focus on the normal part of his day to day life. At least, what had become his normal life. The longer he sat, the more his memories came back. Visser One. The Sharing. His mother returning to them.

“Cisco,” he heard Barry say, and god did he know that the response he’d give would be one of selfishness and fear.

“I vote no. I absolutely don’t want to go back.”

Rip exhaled in frustration; Cisco looked up at the people standing around him. “I mean, come on Rip. Do you really want to go back to being a hawk? Our live expectancies at this point aren’t very high and we know that hawks don’t live that long.” He turned to Sara. “You can still be Zena without us fighting a losing battle.”

“You think this is a losing battle?” Iris asked. “After all we’ve done, you think the Yeerks will win?”

“That’s… no, I didn’t mean it like that. But don’t you want to live a full life? A life we all know we won’t get after the war is over – regardless of the outcome?”

The group sat in uncomfortable silence for a minute or so. Iris disrupted the silence by asking “what about the souls we are replacing? Don’t they deserve to have lives as well?”

“Can their souls even feel anything in Z-space?” Cisco retorted.

“That’s really disgustingly selfish,” Kendra said. “I’m sorry, but my brother did not die for us to replace other people and leave the Earth to burn.”

“And we made a promise,” Rip said. “We made a promise to him.”

Cisco stood up and made his way to the door. “I can’t believe you’re all ready for us to die. My vote is no.”

 

* * *

 

He knew what the right thing to do was. The right thing was to go back to their Earth. For the sake of their families, for the sake of the billions of unaware people. Cisco went into one of the yoga rooms in the Waverider. He sat on an exercise ball and tried not to cry.

It was hard. Fighting was exhausting. It felt never ending. Cisco didn’t believe for a second that he was the only one who was full of fear about whether they would survive the war. Plus there was no indication that if they went back they wouldn’t watch Barry murdered before their very eyes. The team didn’t function quite right with Jake. They all looked at him for the tough decisions and due to the personal connections he had with the other five people, they all had a point of contact before Elfangor showed up. And sure, all of the Animorphs were friends, but it wasn’t as if they were all close.

How perfect was it that in this alternate dimension they had each found each other.

Cisco knew, deep down inside, that they had to go back. That they would go back. Which just made him finally cry, tears flowing down his face. Someone knocked on the door and he quickly tried to wipe all his tears away. The door wasn’t closed and within seconds Barry walked into the room. Great.

“Cisco?” Barry called softly.

“Yeah,” he said as he continued wiping his face. Hearing Barry’s calm voice made him want to scream and cry even more but he had to keep that inside.

Barry walked up to him. Cisco stared up at him, recognizing the sadness and heaviness in Barry’s eyes. _Jake_. “Do we need to talk?”

“Nope, it’s fine. I’m being selfish, I just needed some space.” Barry kneeled in front of the exercise ball. The tears wouldn’t stop.

“You know we have to go back, right?” Cisco nodded. “And you know why we have to go back, right?” Again, Cisco nodded. “Okay. Okay.”

“I don’t want you to go,” Cisco confessed. “I can’t imagine life without you, I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to go either,” Barry said. His voice broke. “But the world needs us. Our families need us.”

“I know. I’ve known this entire time. I just didn’t get why no one was ready to fight back against this reality.”

“Why fight the inevitable?” Barry looked sincere. The heaviness was still on his face. Cisco felt his heart race. They had so little time left together. So many things they wouldn’t share in the future, so many things they wouldn’t be able to do when the war was finally over.

So many feelings that they’d each keep tightly.

But now wasn’t the time for that. Cisco sighed and stood back up, reaching one hand down to help Barry up. Time to talk with the rest of the team. As they were leaving the yoga room, Kendra tried to walk in, resulting in her and Cisco bumping into each other.

“Sorry,” she said, rubbing her forehead with one hand.

“Yeah,” Cisco said. Barry quickly walked away, likely to the other three members of the team. “So.”

“So.”

“I guess this is it, Ax-Man,” he said with a bitter laugh. “Didn’t realize quite how much I loved you until we actually had a shot of a future.”

“This doesn’t have to be the end,” Kendra insisted. “There’s no reason we can’t continue back in our time.” Cisco wanted to interrupt, give the list of a million reasons why they couldn’t be together in their own time. “Just listen to me. I think Zirfadra put me in this body because he wanted to mess with us even more. But I chose my human form back in your time. That doesn’t mean a human body is all that I am.”

“A human and an alien, though?”

Kendra shrugged. “It’s our souls that matter at the end of the day, yes?” She leaned forward to give Cisco a soft kiss. All of his doubts melted away. He kissed her back – he kissed _Ax_ back. “Okay?”

“Okay.” He reached out to grab his partner’s hand. There was an unspoken agreement between them that nothing could really happen until after the war. They both knew that the war was the most important thing in their lives. But in the hour they had left, this could be enough. The pair walked back to the group.


	6. Barry

Barry still held onto hope that he could save Tom from the Yeerks. From the moment he realized that his older brother had been infested he did everything in his power to keep believing that Tom could be safe. That being said, he’d resigned himself to dying at least a year ago. There was no way that all of six of them would manage to survive this alive. And if one of them would have to go, it made sense that as the leader he would be the one who died.

“Barry?” Iris asked. She disrupted his thoughts and he tried to smile at her. Iris did not look okay. “We need to talk.” Barry nodded his head and let her lead him into the library. He leaned against one of the sofas and watched her pace for a while.

“Iris?”

“Okay so. I didn’t realize how intense my feelings for you could be. And I understand why you told Cisco – Marco – god, I don’t even know how to do this. I understand why you told him to take care of me. But. Why was that your thought right before you were going to die?”

This was not the conversation he wanted to have. They were all adults in this universe, sure, but in reality they were still a gang of scared teenagers. Cassie and Iris were awfully alike, wanting to talk about emotions in any capacity before they braced themselves to march into death. Barry sighed heavily. “I don’t know, it just was. And I don’t take it back if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Iris took a deep breath. “If you’re about to die, can you make sure you lived life without any regrets?”

She knew, oh god. She figured him out. Barry got ready to laugh and lie but Iris was looking at him very intensely. His face fell.

“Look,” she said. “We’re all with you. The rest of the team is trying to figure out a way to save you. We didn’t get this far to lose you like this.” Tears began prickling Barry’s eyes and he took a deep breath in. Survival? He could remember the searing pain as the Dracon beams went through him. The last of his energy had been spent sending those two messages. If they were brought back into that moment, how was he supposed to survive?

“I’m ready to die,” he lied. “I’ve accepted it.”

Iris reached her arms out to give him a hug. “We both know that’s not true.”

At this Barry let himself cry. He didn’t cry anymore – there wasn’t _time_ to cry anymore. But this might be the last moment he could share with her and she was right, he wasn’t ready to die.

“I don’t want this to be over,” he whispered.

“Neither do I.” Iris pulled away from the hug and began wiping her own tears. Barry ran one hand over his eyes before taking a deep breath. They both sighed together. Barry’s heart was still as heavy as it always was. At least someone else would know how afraid he was before he put on a good face for the rest of the team.

As they left the library Iris held his hand in between hers. He looked down at their joined hands before looking back up. “Hey,” she said softly. “I meant what I said. Live our lives with no regrets. I love you, Jake, no matter what happens. Don’t be afraid.”

Barry looked down at her with a sad smile. “I love you too, Cassie.”

 

* * *

 

“Will it work?” he found himself asking. Barry stared at the four cubes Kendra and Cisco had triumphantly brought to the group.

Rip picked one up. “I think the better question is will Zirfadra let us leave this dimension with them?”

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it? Our time is almost up.” Sara pointed to a digital clock – they had ten minutes to gather their bearings and say their goodbyes. It was the right thing to do, to give six souls the lives that were rightfully theirs. That also would have been the easy decision and Jake would always be aware that they’d had to choose to go back to fight the Yeerks. That’s all the last three years of their lives had been.

“Okay,” he heard himself saying. “What’s the game plan?”

Kendra picked up the smallest cube. “Sara – Rachel – will carry this small cube with her. When she’s back and holding the orb that brought us here she’ll smash the two objects together. If everything works correctly the regeneration qualities that exist in The Flash’s blood will be able to save you.”

Barry nodded and Cisco began explaining the rest. “Each one of these other cubes is a digital bomb. We have Ax and we have me and Tobias who will still be in morph. That allows us to throw the bombs towards the Bladeship and bring everyone else out of the fight.

It sounded like a reasonable plan. It was their only plan. Barry looked around the group, tears welling up in his eyes. “If this doesn’t work,” he tried to say. “If this doesn’t work, I am sorry. And I believe that we can still win.”

Iris grabbed one of his hands in hers. “If this doesn’t work, we’ll keep fighting for you.” Everyone else in the group nodded their heads in agreement. Barry took a deep breath before turning to her.

“I need to do one last thing.” She leaned forward, still holding his hand, and kissed him on the cheek. They smiled at each other briefly before Iris began ushering everyone into the main area of the ship. “Marco,” he called. Cisco paused and turned back into the room.

“What is it?”

“I want to let you know that I wouldn’t take it back one bit. You are my best friend. Sure, you make poor decisions and bad jokes but you do help us stay alive.” Barry stepped forward. “And if this is my last chance I want to make you know that I love you.”

Cisco looked shell shocked. Barry hesitated for one moment before taking Cisco’s head between his hands. If Cisco wanted to pull away it’d be very easy for him to do. Instead, Cisco tilted his head and rose up on his toes. A kiss. A kiss goodbye, a kiss full of years of friendship that were likely about to reach their end. A kiss, the soft kiss Barry had thought of giving his best friend when he was younger but he didn’t know how to deal with those feelings and he didn’t even know how he could talk to Marco about the feelings without majorly exposing himself.

Cisco exhaled heavily. “Okay,” he said. “Okay, I’ve wanted that to happen since fifth grade. Better now than never, right?” Barry gave him a smile back.

Before he could respond, Zirfadra came back.

[Your time is up. What is the decision, Animorphs?]

Barry and Cisco ran back into the main room to stand with everyone else. “We’re going back,” Jake said.

[And why should I let you leave here with any gifts?]

“You couldn’t make us any promises,” Sara said sharply. “I figure this at least gives us a fifty-fifty chance of survival. And we were here for you amusement anyways.”

“Wouldn’t it be fun for you to watch us survive?” Rip asked. There was a small period of silence, as if Zirfadra was thinking intensely. Everyone in the room looked nervously at each other. Their fates were in the hand of a trickster, a being who felt like it was his term to play with the humans.

[Alright,] he conceded. [Whether you live or not is no concern to me. You released me from the cage I was trapped in for centuries. The chance to try to live is your right.]

Before anyone could say another word, the world went black.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake could feel the Dracon beams slicing him, leaving behind singed fur and raw flesh. His eyes closed – he needed to say goodbye, this was going to be it for him.

<Marco,> he called <you’re my best friend. You’ll always be my best friend. Take care of everyone? Okay?>

<How am I supposed to take care of anyone without you beside me?>

<Please. Be there for my cousin. Be there for Cassie.>

Seconds later he sent another message, a thought speak to all of the Animorphs. <Guys, I’m really sorry.>

His eyes closed and he was ready to succumb to the pain and the darkness, to fall into the abyss and be no more. This wasn’t how he imagined to go but this battle had dealt a major blow to the Yeerks no matter what else happened. Suddenly a bright red light surrounded him. He felt his energy be restored, the skin on his body meshing back together. Jake opened his eyes. He’d demorphed, causing him to panic for a split second. But it was if he was in a different pocket in time, away from the battle and everyone and the universe itself.

[Jake,] a voice called out. [I did not approve of this intervention from Zirfadra.]

“I never thought you did,” Jake said bitterly. “You don’t want anyone to upset the balance of this game.” The Ellimnist was silent. Jake continued looking around. He was still trapped in the swirling shifting red sphere, as if it was being sparked by lightning.

[Crayak and I have agreed to let this meddling to stay as it is now. You are very lucky that your friends are fast thinkers.]

Jake was annoyed, the standard reaction the team had to the supernatural viewers of all of the world and beyond. But, he realized with a sigh, that he’d been given a second chance. All of the Animorphs had received multiple chances at life. This was different, an unexpected gift that Jake would never be thankful enough for. What would the ultimate cost be?

[You’re being released once more into the form that you were before taken from your Earth. Good luck.]

In seconds Jake found himself on the battle field, a tiger full of strength and anger and ready to continue fighting.

<You’re back!> Marco screamed. <It worked!>

<Of course it worked,> Ax said, <do you not trust in my technologic abilities?>

<Okay, before you two get into another one of those arguments, we need to get out of here.>

<Agreed, Tobias.> Jake turned to see Rachel back into her Bear morph, trying to shield Cassie from the rest of the field. <The Vissor was distracted by the other explosives but it won’t be long before he starts looking for us again in that freakish morph.>

<Okay,> Jake said. <Let’s do this.> He ran to where Rachel was, turning so he could look at Cassie. She looked like she was in severe pain and tear tracks had run through the dirt on her face, but she smiled at him. A full smile.

“You’re alive,” she whispered.

It took everything in Jake’s power to not say ‘for now.’

 

* * *

 

 

My name is Jake. I can’t tell you who I really am or where I live. It’s a matter of life and death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this fic. I had actually been thinking about writing an Animorphs/Flash AU since s1 premiered, but this is the first time I had clear enough ideas to sit down and write it.  
> You can find me at lemonyandbeatrice on Tumblr.


End file.
